Field Reference

This reference covers all fields as they appear in the database, the REST API, and CSV exports. Field names are identical across all three interfaces.

Entity Relationships

obs_session (id)
  │
  ├──< rate (session_id) ──────────────── rate_magnitude (rate_id, magn_id) >──┐
  │                                                                            │
  └──< magnitude (session_id) ─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
           │
           └──< magnitude_detail (id → magnitude.id)

shower   ···  rate.shower, magnitude.shower  (IAU code)
radiant  ···  used during normalization only  (uses IAU code)

obs_session is the root. Each session can have many rate and magnitude records. rate_magnitude links a rate observation to the magnitude observation covering the same period (many-to-one on the magnitude side). magnitude_detail holds the per-class breakdown for each magnitude observation. shower and radiant are lookup tables referenced by IAU code, not by foreign key.

Sessions (obs_session)

  • id — unique identifier of the session

  • longitude — observer longitude in degrees

  • latitude — observer latitude in degrees

  • elevation — height above mean sea level in km

  • country — country name

  • city — name of the observation site

  • observer_id — observer id (optional)

  • observer_name — observer name (optional)

Rates (rate)

All rate observations are associated with an obs_session record. shower is absent when the observation covers sporadic meteors or no shower has been assigned.

  • id — unique identifier of the rate observation

  • shower — IAU code of the shower (optional)

  • period_start — start of the observation period

  • period_end — end of the observation period

  • sl_start — solar longitude at period start in degrees

  • sl_end — solar longitude at period end in degrees

  • session_id — reference to the session

  • freq — count of observed meteors

  • lim_mag — limiting magnitude

  • t_eff — net observed time in hours

  • f — cloud cover correction factor

  • sidereal_time — sidereal time in degrees

  • sun_alt — solar altitude in degrees

  • sun_az — solar azimuth in degrees

  • moon_alt — lunar altitude in degrees

  • moon_az — lunar azimuth in degrees

  • moon_illum — lunar illumination (0.0–1.0)

  • field_alt — altitude of the field of view in degrees (optional)

  • field_az — azimuth of the field of view in degrees (optional)

  • rad_alt — radiant altitude in degrees, zenith attraction applied (optional)

  • rad_az — radiant azimuth in degrees (optional)

Magnitudes (magnitude)

All magnitude observations are associated with an obs_session record. shower is absent for sporadic meteors. There are no records in this table where no meteors were observed (freq is always ≥ 1).

  • id — unique identifier of the magnitude observation

  • shower — IAU code of the shower (optional)

  • period_start — start of the observation period

  • period_end — end of the observation period

  • sl_start — solar longitude at period start

  • sl_end — solar longitude at period end

  • session_id — reference to the session

  • freq — total count of observed meteors

  • mean — mean magnitude

  • lim_mag — limiting magnitude (optional)

Magnitude Details (magnitude_detail)

Contains the per-class frequency breakdown for each magnitude observation. Only classes where at least one meteor was observed are stored — freq is always > 0 and may be fractional.

  • id — reference to the magnitude observation

  • magn — magnitude class

  • freq — count of observed meteors in this class

Rates and Magnitudes (rate_magnitude)

Associates rate observations with magnitude observations. A magnitude observation may correspond to multiple rate observations, but not vice versa.

  • rate_id — reference to the rate observation

  • magn_id — reference to the magnitude observation

  • equals — true if the rate observation covers exactly the same period as the magnitude observation

Showers (shower)

Lookup table for meteor showers. Used during import to resolve shower codes and to supply default radiant positions when no drift data is available.

  • id — unique identifier

  • iau_code — IAU shower code

  • name — shower name

  • start_month — month of activity start

  • start_day — day of activity start

  • end_month — month of activity end

  • end_day — day of activity end

  • peak_month — month of peak activity (optional)

  • peak_day — day of peak activity (optional)

  • ra — mean right ascension of the radiant in degrees (optional)

  • dec — mean declination of the radiant in degrees (optional)

  • v — entry velocity in km/s (optional)

  • r — population index (optional)

  • zhr — zenithal hourly rate at peak (optional)

Radiants (radiant)

Lookup table for radiant drift positions. Used during normalization to interpolate the radiant position for a given date.

  • shower — IAU shower code

  • month — month

  • day — day

  • ra — right ascension of the radiant in degrees

  • dec — declination of the radiant in degrees